


A Perfect World

by Skilerc_leaf



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-19
Updated: 2015-12-19
Packaged: 2018-05-07 14:18:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5459531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Skilerc_leaf/pseuds/Skilerc_leaf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(reupload! i forgot what i wrote in the summary of my original one lol)</p>
<p>You enter a new world. It looks perfect. Too perfect.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Perfect World

A new day, a new world. You look around you. 

The streets are clean. The sidewalks are clean. The gardens are clean. So, so clean - they look as if they have been scrubbed with ten mighty sponges imbued with all the worlds' cleaning agents, once, twice, thrice - and then sterilised in a lab. Soil does not exist; when you stoop down to examine the grass - made of plastic and cloth, as you suspected - you notice that it has been replaced with black and brown beads.

You see a road. It is soft, you note; nothing like the harsh mixture of tar and asphalt you are familiar with. But the cars do not sink into them; instead, they go about their merry ways. Merry, merry ways. You dare not ponder why they did not sink. 

The cars are predictable in every movement. There is no honking, no shouting, no 'road rage', as it had been so aptly termed. The drivers, instead, look peaceful. They smile pleasantly at nothing in particular. Their blank eyes stare into your soul.

You flag one down.

The driver slows. The other cars move away appropriately, in the way you had subconsciously imagined they would. Their driving skills and consideration for others on the road were to die for. If only every world had such drivers. There would be no accidents. There would be no unnecessary deaths. It would be perfect.

There are people inside. Two people. Two men. Or are they women? Perhaps neither? Their appearances shift and change constantly, as if indecisive, then settled on a grey and featureless appearance, with nothing but eyebrow and a mouth. 

"You are new here," they state, without turning to face you. "Welcome to our wonderful, perfect world," they tell you, in perfect synchronisation, down to the intonation. "How may we help you?"

"That's creepy," you comment, then realise that perhaps you were a bit rude; you were a visitor to this world, after all, and thus must respect their customs. And they were offering you help. "I--I meant-- why are you--? It's weird. I'm-- I'm sorry, I really am, but I'm just not used to this--" 

"You are greatly mistaken," they say, smiling, as if they had not heard a word of your apology. Their eyes twinkle simultaneously, and their grins are identical. They are still staring aimlessly at the road before them. "We are perfect. We are great. And we are passionate about everything. We are productive. We are brilliant. We benefit this society as a whole. There may be societies far better than ours, but we will continue to work diligently until we best them all. Following that, we will work even harder to maintain our position as first in the world. And we will thus be even more perfect."

"Thanks for the exposition of yourselves and your society," you responded, feeling rather unnerved. "If you don't mind--"

They smile wider in response, their lips twitching in a uniformed manner, before they showed their brilliantly white teeth concurrently. "You are very welcome, visitor. We ask again, may we be of any service?"

"I was getting there," you told them, the slightest touch frustrated, "I need to get to... a portal," you ended off awkwardly, realising how absurd it sounded. "A great green and cream one," you elaborated. "Swirling around. It should be... west of here?" 

They nodded, bobbing their heads as one mechanically. Up, down, up, down, their heads bobbed, eyes still boring into the soft road. "Please enter the vehicle. We will take you there. Do you have any more requests?"

"Uh, can you stop with the weird synchronised thingy?" You mutter, only to yourself, and just as you began to raise your voice to properly respond, they reply, "No, we cannot. We would not be perfect, otherwise. Perfection is integral to the survival of our community. We will not have it disrupted by a mere visitor, unaware of our practices. Is that the end of your requests?" 

"Yes, thanks."

"You are very welcome," they respond, as you get into the car. You close the door, sit back, and hope that the portal is not far off. You do not wish to be in this world of seeming perfection for too long. 

They do not drive.

"Hey, why aren't you driving?"

"It is unsafe. You are not wearing a seatbelt."

You laugh. "Come on!" You say incredulously. "You guys drive so carefully; how the 'ell won't it be safe--"

"It is unsafe," they insist. "Please, wear your seatbelt."

"Okay." Giving in to their wish, you slide on your seatbelt. "You better not be, like, kidnappers, or something. How do you even know where the portal is? Do you even believe me about the portal thing?"

"We are not kidnappers. Those people have long been eradicated, alongside crime. We are a society of people aspiring to be perfect, and perfect people. How does one be perfect, if one involves oneself in such vile crimes?"

"I'm not sure," you respond, but you have feeling that question was meant to be rhetorical.

"Then you understand," they reply. "As for your second and third question, we know the position of the portal because we are perfect beings. Because we know of the existence and exact location of the portal, we believe you. It is strange that you question our perfection."

"No, no, I didn't mean to, y'know, insult you or anything, but I-- in my world, it's not really like this! I'm just-- not used to it, that's all. In my world, nothing's perfect."

"That is strange." Then they laugh, but it is far from a genuine, melodious sound; it is only a monotonous repetition of the onomatopoeia 'ha'. "Your world is very odd, visitor. Does your world not strive to be perfect?"

"Well-- some of us do, I suppose, but there are bad people as well. I-- I don't know; it's not that simple. There's good and there's bad, I guess, but no one can be purely good or purely bad. That's just... impossible." You blinked. "In my world, at least," you were quick to add.

"Tell us, then," they ask of you, "why do you wish to return to your world, with so many flaws?"

"It's home." You frowned. "I like my home."

"Strange, strange, visitor," they chanted. "You return to a worse place because you are emotionally attached to it. Strange, strange visitor." Then they laughed that odd, mechanical laugh again, void of all emotion. 

They pull the car over. "We are here. Please exit the vehicle. Thank you for visiting our wonderful, perfect world," they say tonelessly. You leave hastily, and practically leap through the portal, leaving the robotic race of people and their inappropriately dubbed 'perfect' world behind.

Home, sweet, home.


End file.
